Communicative Strategies Overview

Communicative Strategy

• Communicative strategies are plans, ways, or methods for sharing information to achieve social, political, psychological, or linguistic goals.
• Types of Communicative Strategies include:
  • Nomination
  • Restriction
  • Turn-taking
  • Topic control
  • Topic shifting
  • Repair
  • Termination

Nomination

• The first communication strategy to be familiar with in a conversation.
• It involves proposing or suggesting a topic for discussion.

Example of Nomination

• "I like your new shoes."
• "Girl! Have you seen the new student? So handsome."
• "Hello, do you need help?"

Restriction

• Limiting the topic or subject in a conversation.
• Can be mandated by a facilitator or a conversational partner

Example of Restriction

• A teacher asks students to brainstorm about peer pressure.

Turn-Taking

• Refers to accepted ways that people take turns in a conversation.
• In turn-taking, participants allow appropriate opportunities for others to talk.
• It's the way conversations proceed in an orderly fashion.
• A turn is the time when a particular speaker is talking.
• Turn-taking involves knowing when to start and finish a turn in a conversation.

Example of Turn-Taking

• Making your response concise and informative to leave space for others to speak.
• Employing cues like “What do you think?”
• or “You wanted to say something?"

Topic Control

• Regulating or manipulating the topic of conversation and how long each person talks.
• Regulating the topic of discussion can help keep conversations focused.

Example of Topic Control

• Expressions like "Okay, so much for that...", "Let's go back to the topic," and "Going back to what we are talking about..." are used to keep the conversation on track.

Topic Shifting

• Changing the topic during a conversation.
• It's where one part of a conversation ends and another begins.

Example of Topic Shifting

• Using phrases like "By the way..."
• "Moving on to the next topic,"
• or "Now, let's talk about...".

Repair

• Recognizing a speech error and repeating what was said with a correction.

Example of Repair

• "What I mean is..."
• "Let me repeat myself"
• "Can you please repeat the last part of the instruction?"

Four Varieties of Repair Sequence

• Self-initiated self-repair
• Other-initiated self-repair
• Self-initiated other-repair
• Other-initiated other-repair

Self-Initiated Self-Repair

• The speaker initiates and performs the repair.

Example of Self-Initiated Self-Repair

• "I'm going to Bianca's - I mean Bella's birthday party on Saturday".

Other-Initiated Self-Repair

• The recipient initiates the repair, but the speaker of the trouble source corrects the statement.

Example of Other-Initiated Self-Repair

• A: "I'm going to have my final examination next week."
• B: "What?"
• A: "I said I am going to have my final examination next week."

Self-Initiated Other-Repair

• The speaker of the trouble source tries to get the recipient to correct a statement (like misremembering a name).

Example of Self-Initiated Other-Repair

• Kid: "I need to pack my things tonight for our vacation on Saturday, so I need to get another umm..."
• Mother: "Another bag?"
• Kid: "Yes, that's right! A bigger bag."

Other-Initiated Other-Repair

• The recipient initiates and performs the correction

Example of Other-Initiated Other-Repair

• Angie: Aren't you glad that today is Sunday?
• Betty: Sunday is actually tomorrow

Termination

• Ending a conversation.

Example of Termination

• "It's nice catching up with you. I must be going."
• "Thanks for your time. See you around."

Explore the various communicative strategies that enhance conversations, such as nomination, restriction, and turn-taking. This quiz will offer insights into how these strategies facilitate effective communication in different contexts. Test your understanding of key concepts and examples related to each strategy.